Just as Jacen’s hand twitched toward the lightsaber at his waist, all the room’s glowpanels flashed on, dazzling their eyes with the burst of light. Blinking furiously in an attempt to focus, Jacen saw only blocky shadows, stacked crates, and hunks of decommissioned machinery wrapped in transparent sheeting.
A moment later seven burly, murderous-looking creatures stepped forward, a mix of races: some human, some craggy-faced brutes. One glistening alien dripped blue slime in tiny puddles onto the floor plates. The seven were armed with blasters, grenade launchers, and various long-distance weapons—and each of them looked mean and scarred and intent on mayhem.
An icicle of dread slid down Jacen’s back. Even three Jedi Knights would not be able to resist a combined attack from these hired killers.
“Don’t move,” snarled the slime-dripping alien. Weapons came up and took aim, holding them at bay.
A broad-shouldered human with a hairy face from eyebrows to chin growled in a wet, phlegmy voice, “Are these the ones?” One side of his face appeared to have been eaten away by acid.
The seven thugs pulled out images printed on evaporating flimsiplast. The patchy-furred Ugnaught scurried out from his hiding place behind a rusty disconnected pumping generator. He chittered and squealed, pointing vigorously at them.
“Yeah, I know they were following you. Good job,” the hairy-faced man gargled. “But this is only half the number we’re supposed to kill. Where are the rest—the Lando guy and the other kids?”
The Ugnaught squealed something. Em Teedee said, “Shall I translate what the Ugnaught has just explained?”
“No,” Tenel Ka said quickly.
The Wookiee roared, and Jacen nodded. “I agree, Lowie—if we can’t fight them, we’d better turn around and run!”
The thugs shouted in surprise and fired off scattered blaster shots as Jacen, Lowie, and Tenel Ka bolted toward the nearest exit door. Their feet clanging on the metal decks of the lower levels in Port Town, the young Jedi Knights dashed out of the room, sprinting ahead as fast as they could go. Jacen swung around metal-walled corners, his sweaty hands squeaking on grimy durasteel plates as he grabbed them for balance.
Lowie banged his head on the low ceiling and yowled in pain, but kept charging ahead. Em Teedee sputtered along, doing his best to keep up. “Wait for me!”
The suspicious Ugnaught had led them into a trap. They had blundered into it in spite of sensing warnings through the Force. But what chilled Jacen most was knowing that he and his friends had already been marked as targets. These assassins, carrying images of Lando and the young Jedi Knights, apparently had orders to kill all of them. He had seen a glimpse of his own face on the printed flimsiplast, a contract for their deaths.
The surly bunch behind them bellowed, firing their blasters recklessly. Apparently they had no training in teamwork, though. The searing energy bolts bounced off the reflective walls, skittering like molten cannon-balls down the passageways.
Ahead, Jacen saw an opening in the floor that dropped into a wide air shaft. He leapt down it and the others followed, bouncing and jolting against the slick metal walls until they shot out into an open bay where cold steam hissed upward. Tubes dangled like tentacles from overhead supports. They landed on a rickety catwalk, and Jacen grabbed the railing to reassert his balance. Amber light burned from mini-glows hidden in pipes, conduits, and pressure-release valves.
Beside Jacen, Lowbacca reached out to grab a horizontal dangling chain overhead. Using his powerful Wookiee muscles, he hauled himself across it handover-hand until he reached a lower platform on a solid catwalk, then swung a chain back down to his friends so that Tenel Ka and Jacen could each swing over to him. Em Teedee flew across by himself.
The lift-shaft door opened with a hiss. A blocky, gray-skinned man and the slime-dripping alien lunged into the industrial chamber, immediately spotting their prey. More blaster fire rang out. One bolt breached a lubricant-containment vessel, cracking open its outer shell. Slick greenish-blue liquid spilled onto the floor, turned smoky, and slowly began to burn. The two hitmen growled and coughed, waving the curling, noxious smoke away from their faces. More blue slime dripped from the messy alien.
“This is no place to camp out,” Jacen said. “How about we try somewhere else?”
They ran along the catwalk and scrambled down a set of metal ladders rung by rung until they reached an even lower level, then scurried across a dirt-stained floor.
“Where is everybody?” Jacen said. “Is this section of Cloud City off-limits, or what?”
“Perhaps today it is.” Tenel Ka, barely even breathing hard, stopped next to him. “I believe they moved all workers out of this area. They wished to keep the field clear for their hunt.”
“You mean they planned this that much ahead?” Jacen said.
Lowie chuffed and nodded in agreement. “Oh, no! We’re doomed!” Em Teedee wailed.
They ducked under a half-open shipping bay door and entered an inventory sector where canisters of spin-sealed Tibanna gas stood behind guard fields. Since Tibanna gas was used for hyperdrive cores as well as blaster powerpacks, hazardous-material signs marked every door and each separate shipment.
Still running, they dropped down two more levels. With each new room or corridor intersection, they hoped to encounter crowds again. That way they could disappear among other sentient beings and find protection … but it appeared as if these hidden levels of Port Town had been entirely evacuated.
“We are close to the bottom of Cloud City,” Tenel Ka said after climbing down three more ladders. Jacen could see her arm beginning to shake from the effort. “Perhaps there is an express lift tube that would return us to the upper levels.”
“Not down here,” Jacen said. “They try to keep these levels separate from the tourists and credit-paying customers.”
Tenel Ka flicked her red-gold braids away, and he saw a sheen of sweat on her face. He wondered if it was from exertion or from fear.
He decided it must be from exertion.
All around them the room became too quiet again. The three of them moved toward a heavy door that led out into the dim passageways of living quarters. Lowie sniffed. They could hear noises, conversations, sounds of the city’s other inhabitants, and Jacen guessed these must be the warrens filled with Ugnaught families tucked into cramped tubes and small dwelling areas.
Tenel Ka drew her lightsaber and switched it on. The turquoise blade hummed and flickered in the shadowy room. “Still quiet,” she said. “But we are now close to other people.”
Jacen, trusting his friend’s instincts, removed his own lightsaber. Lowie did the same. But before they could switch on their weapons, a side door whisked open and three of the deadly hunters charged out, bellowing and opening fire without even taking aim.
Tenel Ka deflected one of the blaster bolts with her blade. The shot left a smoking hole in the metal wall mere centimeters to avoid the head of the man who had fired it. More blaster fire erupted, ricocheting off walls and blasting equipment into ruined shreds.
Jacen ducked to avoid the blizzard of powerful shots. “I don’t think this is a good place either,” he panted. They backed up.
Lowie grabbed Tenel Ka and Jacen, hauling them after him as he charged back through the door, sprinted toward another access shaft, and jumped down to a final level. Tenel Ka held her glowing lightsaber far away from her friends as they all scrambled backward onto a metal grid floor covered with strange circular markings, ribs, and hatches that led to other shafts. The corridor glowpanels pulsed, too bright and harsh for Jacen’s eyes to adjust quickly. Twirling alarm signals overhead warned them of some impending hazard, but gave no indication as to what it might be.